Projects

My focus is helping museums and institutions achieve deeper engagement with the communities they serve through the development of visitor-centric projects.

Tell Me Where The Mirrors Go, Oakland Museum

date:2015

date:2015

place:Oakland Museum of California

role:Artist and Designer

Through the Irvine Foundation’s New California Arts Fund grant, I was invited to do a project of my own choosing at the Oakland Museum of California. The grant focused on their local, non-visiting community. I chose to work with a single family (vs. a community group) in order to create an intimate project that would illicit specific ideas from the family for the museum.

During a series of meetings and visits (onsite and off) the family shared their perspectives about the museum experience. Through them, and through the act of doing the project, lessons were learned in terms of how to not only reach but engage in meaningful ways: from the obvious (how can you be free when they are free?) to the foundational (who are you responsible to?).

The project resulted in an in-gallery installation where their insights or impressions were installed adjacent to works of art, as well as a project documentary at the start of the gallery.

The in-gallery video can be found here. I was invited to give a talk at the annual Western Museums Association Conference on the project.

Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits & Behaviour

date:2015

date:2015

place:London, England

role:Exhibtion Designer, Project Lead

The Sainsbury Wellcome Centre is a new, purpose-built Research Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, at University College London, a site designed by Ian Ritchie Architects.

Working with content experts Dr. Marty Banks, of the Banks Lab at UC Berkeley and Dr. Hany Farid of Dartmouth, we created an exhibition on visual perception and cognitive function, resulting in five large, street-front vitrines. Fabrication design was done by Science Projects of London.

Walker Art Center Field Lab & Field Cart

date:2014

date:June 2014

place:Walker Art Center

role:Developer, Designer

This project was a collaboration with the Education and Community Programs staff on the Field Lab, which transformed the Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab into an open laboratory and residency space for research and development for local and visiting artists.

As an extension of their work on the Open Field project, Education and Community Programs wanted to think about how they might utilize the Art Lab during the non-school year in support of artists and the Walker’s work. With the artists first in mind, we developed low cost ways to transform and signal this new usage.

To complement the work in the Lab, I designed and developed a mobile cart which was realized with the Pseudo Studio design/build team in San Francisco. It is a a nimble-yet-durable platform for art-making activities, local artists pop-up residencies, and small performances. You can read the Walker’s review of the cart in Can I Have An Idea.

Image credit, left: Walker Art Center

Open Field Research Residency, Walker Art Center

This residency was about exploring new approaches for interpretation and interaction with the art movement Fluxus. Hosted by the Open Field project at the Walker, it manifested in an interpretive trail across the grounds for a day which played out notions of Fluxus in score form. Accompanying was an event called “Fluxus Drawing Club,” where visitors were given Flux Kits akin to the historic forms and drew listening to a family reading of A Child’s History of Fluxus, by Dick Higgins, the founding artist. Visitors walked the trail, drew scores, and shared them on a custom-built mobile display unit.

Project credits:Fluxux Drawing Club was a collaboration with local artist Margaret PezzellaLetterpress by Jenni Undis of Lunalux Letterpress
Penny Event by Mayor Mike Haeg
Audio recording Dick Higgins Child’s History of Fluxus performed by the Pezalla-Grandlund family

People Imitating Cats, Walker Art Center

People Imitating Cats was a project created for the Walker Art Center in conjunction with their Internet Cat Video Festival. Held at the Minnesota State Fair, I decided to invert the concept of internet cat videos, and created a mobile cat head recording unit to capture people and their imitations of cats. That evening, the recordings were edited and played for 13,000 as a precursor to the main event.

People Imitating Cats video:

Project documentary:

Oakland Museum Natural Sciences Gallery: Water Game

date:2013

date:Spring 2013

place:Oakland Museum of California

role:Developer, designer

For the re-opening of the Natural Sciences Gallery at the Oakland Museum of California, they wanted to find a way to engage the public with the complexities and nuances involved in the state water story. We determined that a table-top game approach was the first step to finding out what is possible to convey. This game was devised so that the museum could swap out the content in the Q&A to try out other approaches with their audience over time.

Baltimore Museum of Art, Interactive Education Spaces

date:2013

date:2013

place:Baltimore, MD

role:Exhibit Design and Project Management

Designed 2 interactive galleries for a recently renovated Contemporary Arts wing. Worked on early stage Strategic Planning for a large, interactive arts education gallery in another wing of the Museum. You can read more about the project here:

The Great Calculation Residencies

Early calculators were unwieldy, noisy, smelly machines that required constant maintenance. Mechanical engineer Mark Glusker collects them and Maria Mortati explored them during residencies at Machine Project and Southern Exposure Gallery. TGC was of a series of lectures, interactive performances, workshops, and an exhibition focused on the machines and their pre-solid state nature. Work created by participants was on display along with the calculators. Workshops consisted of drawing and dissection of machines and custom coloring books enhanced by music by local artists Aero Mic’d. After the talks were machine-inspired performances by Deadalus, and Matt Dryhurst.

Project documentary:

Center for Creative Connections, Dallas Museum of Art

date:2012

date:2012

place:Dallas, TX

role:Project Facilitation & Concept Development

The Center for Creative Connections is a 12,000 sq ft interactive art gallery and studio space at the center of the Museum. Working with the Director and staff, we created a new exhibition development process.

Children’s Creativity Museum

Lead the exhibition redesign transforming the Main Gallery and related spaces from Zeum to the Children’s Creativity Museum. This consisted of crafting a sustainable vision, and leading design through opening. Managed teams, budgets, and resources. Resulted in exponential growth in terms of visitation and membership.

Desire Trails, “Open Air Museum,” Headlands Center for the Arts

From HCA: “Join us for a far-flung series of walking and talking tours through the rich, mysterious, and sensorial landscape of the Marin Headlands. A diverse group of artists and creative thinkers—including DEMILIT, Nicole LoBue, Maria Mortati, Jeannene Przyblyski, Stephanie Rosenbaum, Richard A. Walker, David Wilson, Cooley Windsor (AIR ’00, Affiliate ‘01-‘02), and Devin Zuber—offer fresh perspectives into the natural environment and human history in this complex locale. Gather and disperse, walk and talk, hear, touch, see, smell, and encounter Headlands anew.”

San Francisco Mobile Museum

This was an experimental museum platform were exhibits were often annual, and resulted from a challenge-based approach to the general public. The first exhibition was a dual city collaboration with the Denver Community Museum. The SFMM has appeared at sites such as the Studio for Urban Projects, various parks in the Bay Area and at the Exploratorium. The museum is currently on hiatus. Historic information can be found on the blog.

Power of the Prototype Exhibit, MakerFaire

Curated and designed “Power of the Prototype,” an experimental concept exhibit alongside artist Phil Ross’ technebiotic exhibition at MakerFaire. The exhibit was a way to invite the public to understand how complex creativity is achievable by looking at prototypes made by artists, engineers, scientists and designers.

“As a professional curator, her creation was a small scale museum exhibit on the importance of prototypes. A proletariat, mass consumer product like a Glade fragrance spritzing machine is not classically inspiring, but Mike Strasser’s foam core prototype is completely captivating when you are able come face to face with the original idea. One wouldn’t think there would be a celebrity quality to prototypes but, when you have the singular relic in your hand, it is easier to be awed by a fragrance dispenser than you would think.”

From Master Planning through Final Design, co-crafted a vision and strategy for the institution through opening. This process included; engaging staff and board, managing outreach to key contributors in the community and exhibition development. Provided tracking and cost estimating of over 16,000 sq. ft. of graphics and interactive exhibits.

Image credit: Fort Collins Museum of Discovery

Ruckus Nation, HopeLab.org

The Ruckus Nation project was a collaborative exhibit project developed with Daylight Design The exhibition and event were to honor children who were finalists in an international competition held at the de Young Museum. Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, it resulted in a 4,000 square foot temporary exhibition.

Critter Salon by Phil Ross

Critter Salon is an entity created by artist Phil Ross as a way to engage the public in the deep exploration of science. I worked with Phil on a couple of Critter events, most recently the “Enormous Microscopic Evening” at the Hammer. Also assisted on the Technebiotics project.

Outdoor Exploratorium, The Exploratorium

As an employee of the Exploratorium, worked on the N.S.F. Funded “Outdoor Exploratorium” grant. During the Research and Prototyping phase, conceived, built and tested prototypes with team, public and evaluators. In collaboration, developed the project Conceptual Framework, and created a strategy for site selection. Also a member of the Artist in Residency review team.

Bay Area Furniture Art

date:2003

date:2003

role:Co-Curator & Exhibition Designer

BAFA was the first survey of it’s kind in the region which looked at the intersection of art, craft and design. Included curating, exhibit development, catalog, exhibit design and production. Became an annual event for several years subsequently curated by staff from CCA and SFMOMA. Review here.

Various Projects (Gyroscope Inc.)

date:2003

date:2003 – 2004

role:Exhibit Designer

Worked on a variety of projects such as exhibit design and development for The Leonardo, The Bishop Science Adventure Center, the San Francisco Zoo, and the Oslo Barnemuseum. Often with a focus on interactives. Also wrote proposals and edited grants.

West Office Exhibition Design

date:2002

date:2002 – 2003

role:Senior Exhibit Designer

As an employee of West Office, worked as a Sr. Exhibit Designer on projects such as Final Design for the Las Vegas Springs Preserve and Concept Development for the California Science Center.

La Mola Da Arrotino

date:2002

date:2002

place:Stanford University

role:Artist

La Mola, known in the Italian-Tirolese dialect as a muola, was the term for an early 20th century knife grinder’s cart. What you see are photographs of a sculpture based around the original design of that machine. This exhibit was created to enable those unfamiliar with the story of the molete (the grinders) to learn by experience and vision: by replacing the grinding stone with a mutoscope of a grinder working on an original mola in the Alps. When the cart’s foot treadle is pumped, the animation is activated. As an individual’s body learns the movement, their eyes see history.

The first mechanical models of this piece were produced with information from old photographs. Later prototypes drew from research, testing, and interviews conducted in Italy. Materials used: walnut, hand-forged steel, machined and bought parts, leather. This was developed during my MFA Thesis at Stanford.

Seeing, The Exploratorium

Working as a volunteer designer, created an online interactive that was a biographical immersion into the life and mind of a writer with limited sight. This was part of the Exploratorium’s NSF Funded “Seeing” project.

Bay Area Now 2, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

date:1999

date:1999

role:Artist & Designer

Co-created a large, interactive installation which consisted of a product show room “metatherapy.com,” by artist Neil Grimmer. Concept development through installation consisted of a kiosk-to-modified pager system, with accompanying interactives, wall art, website and visual system.

“In the galleries, many of the artists play with other Bay Area archetypes such as new-age movements, Silicon Valley commercialization and outrageous real estate prices. “Metatherapy” (1999) by Neil Grimmer (with Maria Mortati) combines a few of these issues into one. He creates a business, Metatherapy.com, which offers New Age personal therapy over the Internet. If you register, every hour you will receive a mantra in a vibrating page. Using pagers, computers, glass and steel to produce little codes for life at the touch of a button, Grimmer combines body and machine, incorporating the high tech and the spiritual with art and commerce.”